Deaf 3-year-old kid now enjoys music with cochlear implant

• Silas was diagnosed with Connexin 26 or a genetic mutation that is the most common cause of congenital hearing loss.
• His mom Felicia Aquilo gave him the best hearing aid so the kid could cope with his condition.
• Now, Silas enjoys music together with his great-grandmother who previously had the same cochlear implant!

Silas was born deaf, diagnosed with Connexin 26 or a genetic mutation that is the most common cause of congenital hearing loss — leaving his mom Felicia Aquilo devastated.

Felicia questioned what went wrong, wondered if the doctor’s diagnosis was correct, and got badly preoccupied thinking how to deal with her son’s unforeseen special needs.

After six months, Felicia learned to reconcile with Silas’ disability and focused on helping him cope with it. She worked on getting Silas the best hearing aids and sign language lessons.

As doctors said that Silas could recover some hearing, Silas ended up having cochlear implants installed when he was just over one year old.

“Everything with the surgery went as planned and I’m pretty sure recovery was harder on me than it was on him — he was back to himself two days later,” Felicia wrote on her blog. “Little did I know that this was the beginning of such an amazing, rewarding journey for our family. Silas’ CI (Cochlear Implant) activation day was February 5th, 2019, which is the day he heard his mom and dad’s voices for the first time ever.”

Three years after, Silas learned how to use both speech and sign language. He attends audiology appointments on a regular basis, as well as other therapies to learn maximizing the use of his implants.

The diagnosis on the three-year-old boy encouraged his great-grandmother Elizabeth — who has had hearing loss since childhood — to have the same testing done, which determined that she also had Connexin 26.

Elizabeth also decided to have cochlear implants, which helped her hear much better than she has had her entire life.

The best part of this whole experience was the bonding Silas formed with his great-grandmother where they enjoy music together!

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A post shared by Felicia Aquilo (@feliciaaquilo)

“Having a deaf child as a hearing parent is the most rewarding journey,” Felicia added. “He has opened my eyes and my heart to an entirely new world and for that I am so grateful.”

Source: Inspire More